I decided that I wouldn't have time to do it next weekend, or the weekend after. Moreover, since this is a long weekend, I "had time" to do it now (I put it in quotes because, really, I can carve out a couple hours any time to do it, but I don't want to unless I have a lot of other free time around it so I don't feel cheated).
But then my wishy-washiness began. First, I noticed that the grass wasn't all that high. It could have waited a week or two. (Much of the grass is getting yellow too, and that bothers me.) Also, the weather was gray -- perfect because I would feel like I wouldn't have to put on sunscreen, but it looked like it could rain. So I looked on both AccuWeather on my laptop and the Weather app on my phone and said that there was a chance of rain for the next couple hours.
But I didn't want to wait a couple hours. I wanted to do it now. Besides, it didn't look like it was going to be a torrential rain. And even if it were, it would have only lasted a few minutes -- half-hour at most. But I wouldn't have to worry about that if I just mowed now because I could probably get the mowing in before the raindrops start ... maybe ... ?
After some procrastination, I went for it. I usually take my time because mowing the lawn is sometimes a pain in the ass, and I want to put on sunscreen and bug spray before I start, plus I want to clean both yards of branches and stuff. But this time, knowing that rain could be coming, I actually jogged -- jogged -- around the yards to pick up debris. Put gas in the mower and off I went.
I thought I was going to beat any storm that could be coming. But then I felt a few drops. I did a quick re-calculating. I can mow during a drizzle, right? I won't mind, and the mower won't blow up if a few raindrops get into the top, uh, opening thing, right? So I still mowed. And I got through the frontyard even though it was still misting.
The backyard was another story, I'm afraid. I was, oh, less than halfway through it when the drops got heavier and more frequent. I was afraid that the sky would open up and I would be caught in a deluge. At that point, the closer I got to the end, the more rain I would have tolerated in order to finish. But I was hoping that the drizzle wouldn't worsen, and it did, and so I stopped.
I sort of regret deciding to mow in the afternoon. But I then compounded that mistake with a worse decision: Putting the lawnmower underneath the deck. I was going to go out to eat for lunch and to pick up groceries, and I was hoping that, even though the rain was hard enough for me to stop, it would be so brief that I could immediately go back to mowing. That was a mistake, for two reasons. One, it didn't stop when I got back. And two, I realized on my way to Raising Cane's that you really should mow wet grass. Whoops. So now I was going to leave my mower underneath the deck for a couple or few hours? And while I was thinking it would be covered, the deck has slats, and water is tiny, and it could slip through and malfunction the mower.
So once I got back home I dodged the rain and properly put the mower, which was drenched, back in the shed. I was hoping I would get all done, shower, trim my nails and sleep all afternoon, but all I could do was conk off my sweaty, smelly, bug repellant-covered body in my bed. (I now have to change the sheets, too.)
By the time I woke up, around 4, the sun was out. The grass didn't look wet, but even if it were, I made the decision, poor as it might be, to just take out the mower and finish the backyard. The mower worked, by the way. And to justify doing it in the afternoon instead of the evening, I stuck to my plan of going out and having fun in the evening. I am eating and drinking my way through the Wedge -- a chicken sandwich at Bebe Zito, iced tea at Caffetto, then ice cream after a nice long walk at Milkjam. That totally justifies pausing inbetween mows in the early afternoon because of a rainstrom, right? Right???
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